An Introduction to America’s Music

208 PART 2 | FROM THE CIVIL WAR THROUGH WORLD WAR I

Second, an oral tradition of music is very different from music as it is preserved

in transcriptions (performances “dictated” to a transcriber, who writes them

down using music notation) and phonograph recordings. Writing and recording

allow music that once existed only in live performance to be heard in other con-

texts, repeated as desired, and studied. But once a song is fi xed in writing or on

record, it takes on a permanent identity that it may never have enjoyed in perfor-

mance. Emerging here is a phenomenon that will be a major theme of America’s

music in the twentieth and twenty-fi rst centuries: the impact of recording tech-

nology on how listeners perceive music and, as a result, how musicians create it.

Third, until the late 1800s almost all of outsiders’ knowledge about Indian

music was fi ltered through the observations of people for whom it was a foreign

mode of expression. When later scholars use those observations as the basis for

secondary research, the possibility of introducing further distortions is all too

real. With these caveats in mind, however, a great deal of valuable information

can be gleaned from the work of the early preservationists.

EARLY WRITERS ON AMERICAN INDIAN MUSIC

The nineteenth century saw a signifi cant increase in the quantity and quality of

American Indian ethnography: writings about all aspects of Indian cultures. In

the fi rst half of the century the best writings are either by Indians themselves

or by whites who enjoyed prolonged contact with them. The second half of the

century witnessed two diverging treatments of Indian life: on the one hand,

sensational and distorted portrayals presented in popular culture, and on the

other hand, the more substantive work of scholars who brought anthropological

methods to the study of music.

In 1822 Lewis Cass, governor of the Michigan Territory, quoted a Miami Indian

song in an article on Native customs: “I will go and get my friends—I will go and

get my friends—I am anxious to see my enemies. A clear sky is my friend, and it is

him I am seeking.” Aware that these words bore little resemblance to any song his

readers would know, Cass explained how they were sung. His account squares

with what we now know to be common Indian practices. The song has a spec -

ifi c purpose: to recruit volunteers for a mission of war. The text’s brevity does

not mean that the performance

was short; Indians were known to

repeat bits of text and music many

times. Vocables (nonsemantic sylla-

bles) were also common, as was the

song’s use of a natural image—the

sky, personifi ed as a friend—rather

than a narrative or literal descrip-

tion. Finally, Cass was struck by the

unusual sound of the singing and

attempted to describe it.

One observer who achieved close,

sustained contact with Indian peo-

ples was Henry Rowe Schoolcraft,

who in 1823 married Jane Johnston,

the mixed-blood granddaughter of

Lewis Cass Describes a Miami Indian

Song, 1822

T

here is a strong expiration of the breath at the commencement

of each sentence, and a sudden elevation of the voice at the

termination. The Chief, as he passes, looks every person sternly

in the face. Those who are disposed to join the expedition exclaim

Ye h , Ye h , Ye h , with a powerful tone of voice; and this exclamation

is continually repeated during the whole ceremony. It is, if I may so

speak, the evidence of their enlistment. Those who are silent decline

the invitation.

In their own words

distortions in

transcription

non-native

perceptions

Lewis Cass

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